It is
usually assumed that the Martial Arts started in the East and then
came over here to the West many centuries later. Logic tells us
that a warrior-people such as the Angles, Saxons, Danes, Norwegians
and the other Teutonic Tribes that make up the English Nation must
have had a Warrior Arts of their very own. This has not come down
to us simply because the ancient Germanic Tribes passed on their
knowledge and wisdom through word of mouth and did not write things
down. Thus we have no written records of such things, and what was
passed on through the generations has been distorted in many ways,
and also suppressed in some cases, as we shall see
later.

The
Martial Arts that we know do come from the East, and have come over
here to the West in very recent times. There were those who did not
want these secrets to be given to the West, understandable when we
consider the results of this act. Rather than a true Martial Arts,
connected to the Esoteric Martial Arts as a spiritual discipline,
these arts became a 'sport', and in the worst cases yet another
means to make money. What we have today is a dim remembrance of the
true Eastern Martial Arts.

Taking someone
else's discipline has its drawbacks, because each unique art, even
though it came from the same source, is geared to a specific nation
and people - Karate, the Okinawans & Japanese, Kung Fu, the
Chinese, and Tai Kwon Do, the Koreans. These were drawn from the
same source but developed differently for each individual nation
and people. It is also the case that in some cases the discipline
is geared to an understanding of the history of that nation; in
taking up these arts Westerners also start to learn the background
and the history of those who promoted them. No bad thing to learn
these things, but today this takes the place of learning one's own
tradition and culture, and thus one's own identity. Most people
have thus lost their own unique identity, and in doing so are
little better than empty shells without a history (roots) and thus
a future.

It is also
true to say that, despite the usual accounts of the origins of the
Martial Arts, that they did not originate in the Shaolin Temple in
China. They were taken to China by a Buddhist Monk named
Boddhidharma, the 'Blue-Eyed Monk' as he was referred to, thus
proving his origins as a Aryan from India. Recent findings have
almost proven that the Sacred Texts of India - the Vedas - were
taken there by invaders from the Far North, these being known as
the Aryans. The origins of these Martial Arts is from the North and
not from the East.

All of the
Martial Arts disciplines start from a source, and from there they
spread out, at the same time being redeveloped in forms suited to
the individual tribes or nations that take them up. So there is
nothing really 'traditional' about any of them, for they have
changed considerably over the ages. This is clear from the form of
Kung Fu known as Wing Chun which is far different than the others,
and, it is said, developed by a woman.

This brings me to another point, since
these arts are not just for men, although in the past men were more
likely to take them up. We cannot compare what is happening today
with the past since today's Martial Arts are 'sports', and they are
mainly non-contact 'sports', which makes a great difference. Also
some of these sports, such as kick-boxing, is now used mainly for
fitness and not a fighting discipline as it is in the East (Muai
Thai). But in the past women have become great warriors, although
as individuals this has not come down to us. For those who think
that the recentThe Vikings series is mere
'Hollywood' it has been recorded for us in the sagas of Ragnar
Lodbrok that there were warrior-bands made up of warrior-women, and
we have also the 'Shield-Maidens' recorded of the Saxons and the
Vikings and other Germanic Tribes.

Since these origins have come down to us as
originating in India we need to consider that the most advanced
scholars now agree that the most ancient texts such as the Rig
Veda originated with the Aryans who came from much northerly
areas. Legend has it that some form of catastrophic change forced
the Aryans to migrate southwards from their original 'Arctic
Homeland'. Whatever the case of this there is no valid reason not
to use what we now know as the Eastern Tradition to re-create a
working Warrior Arts for the English Folk.

This brings us to another question - 'Why do we
need an English Warrior Arts?' Well, we are fast losing our English
Tradition, Culture and Identity and what better way to
aid the process of regaining these than to re-create a working
system of the Warrior Arts based upon our own Ancient
Runes. This is certainly not new, and there are already
systems working with the runes, some claiming to go back hundreds
of years, but there is, as far as I know, no system based upon the
33 English Runes, which we have now termed the Ar-Kan
Runes.

This site is
dedicated to the recreation of an English Warrior Arts through the
study of the Esoteric Warrior Arts which forms the true basis of
what we call by the name 'Martial Arts'. Too much emphasis today is
put on the Martial Arts as a 'sport' and yet the name defines this
as the 'Art of War' ('martial' comes from 'Mars' the Greek God of
War). Of course, we do not see this as being relevant to the 'wars'
of today which are fought without honour through advanced
technology where both soldiers and civilians are slaughtered en
masse, but we do see this as relevant to the 'war' that is
fought by every one of us today, a 'war' against the evil that is
spreading across our lands, bringing with it the crime and terror
that we all face in our everyday life. Things are getting worse and
worse and the need for some form of arts of defence is now
essential. We all know that, but there is even more of a need for
some form of psychological defence against the growing terror that
we face - there is a need for self-discipline and self-reliance,
and how better to do this than being able to defend oneself, and
more than that have the self-confidence and self-discipline to be
able to live life as it should be, without fear of the problems we
face in this world today. This is why we have concentrated upon the
ESOTERIC WARRIOR ARTS.